discuss Does brandable domains work?

hookbox said:

If I heard it for the first time I would spell it exactly how it is. The correct spelling "googol" seems really oddball to me.

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you must be really weird then <joke>. But probably not alone

Good 'brandables' do take a lot do take a lot of mind-work. I find it helps to think of specific Industries or professions. Look at what is in use focusing on what is successful. Quite often patterns or keywords repeat, so your already looking for variations on a Theme or themes, Then you of course looking for 'Recognition' in the letter layout, avoiding all confusables in letter layout is also important. You don't want an individual having to look or read twice in order to discern the message intended or there to be a less than professional association. Of course your then looking to keep it as short as possible without loosing any clarity in the term.
I could go on and on into word and letter art etc, etc but most will understand you either enjoy the challenge and rewards or it isn't for you. It can actually be quite addictive bit like domains themselves, Don't forget we haven't even touched on availability to register as yet, that's why you have to thinking about future markets and services or those just growing

DOMAIN ILLUMINATI said:

I see brandable domains as the result of individual creativityyy
If this individual creativity matches the sense for creativity of (an)other individual(s), they work.

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that's an excellent summary

Are these domains you have sold? What is your process for choosing good brandable domains?

Federer said:

Brandable domains do not come equal.
In my experience (and after having carefully analyzed thousands of sales) simply put: 2-word "brands" do far, far better than any other "brand" category - period.

Names like:
PracticePlus.com
LeaseGroup.com
InvestHub.com
ProAgent.com
PeakOne.com
AlianceShopping.com
MotionLab.com

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BaileyUK said:

that's an excellent summary

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Even if you say so yourself

It's getting more and more interesting. It seems to me there's no one rule which works for all. This is a very vast niche but again one cannot be completely sure what will sell and what will not.

Nezam Uddin said:

It's getting more and more interesting. It seems to me there's no one rule which works for all. This is a very vast niche but again one cannot be completely sure what will sell and what will not.

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Just like in life itself

stub said:

Google doesn't exactly pass this radio test? It's only after seeing the domain several times that you know how to spell it.

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Ah! Well, we English know what a Googly is, because we play cricket. Sometimes I think it describes Google searches.

Striking more fuel into the discussion, how many of the domainers have got their own domain names listed on BrandPa/BrandBucket and were successful in selling it?

Brandables are for visionaries who like to gamble on the side, the ones who have been in the game that knows what sells. It's good to have a spread sheet with reasons why you bought that one because it could be a forgotten trend or a drunken reg. That being said it's always good to diversify, I sold off many liquid domains at the peak of llll.com and I'm slowly starting to build that side back up as prices come back down to earth.

Nezam Uddin said:

Striking more fuel into the discussion, how many of the domainers have got their own domain names listed on BrandPa/BrandBucket and were successful in selling it?

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I have many Bb rejects that have gone on to be x,xxx sales

Some of the highest returns are from brandables, what developer doesn't want to start with a clean slate?

As quoted above, In most instances you are going to work with Two words, to build your 'Brandable domain'. What most tend to ignore is the importance of 'Letter-layout' If you have to insert Capitalisation in the second word in order to create recognition/distinction - then in most instances your already on a lost cause.

I never surprises me these days how many promote their domains as brandables but have to rely on capitalisation to portray their emphasis - Trust me, end users want sweet balanced wording. Once you've decided your key word you will need to play with literally hundreds of combinations to find the sweet-spot. Any additional (unrequired) lettering is a fools make-up (usually pluralisation)

BaileyUK said:

As quoted above, In most instances you are going to work with Two words, to build your 'Brandable domain'. What most tend to ignore is the importance of 'Letter-layout' If you have to insert Capitalisation in the second word in order to create recognition/distinction - then in most instances your already on a lost cause.

I never surprises me these days how many promote their domains as brandables but have to rely on capitalisation to portray their emphasis - Trust me, end users want sweet balanced wording. Once you've decided your key word you will need to play with literally hundreds of combinations to find the sweet-spot. Any additional (unrequired) lettering is a fools make-up (usually pluralisation)

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Can you show us some good and bad examples of what's brandable already and what's desperately being depicted as brandable , please?

Nezam Uddin said:

Can you show us some good and bad examples of what's brandable already and what's desperately being depicted as brandable , please?

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hi Nezam, over the years I guess I've sold around two hundred brandables. Many are in use with some very large companies. I certainly wont pick on any listing as an example of a poor branding.

the key to brandables hasn't really changed since I started in 1999/2000. What is the market ??, and what are they selling ???. There's very little point in trying to explore todays markets - your already to-late.

So what's coming to market ?? with multiple outlets or applications. find your key word/s and the 'action' term that creates a perfect fit.

Now comes the time consuming skill of testing all your made-up combos in search engines and similar, yes they will be out there usually in technical journals and the like. Just like a precursor

I can't teach people how to identify future terms, you'll get twice as many wrong as you get right. I just hope in my posts I've added something to the basics,

Nezam Uddin said:

Striking more fuel into the discussion, how many of the domainers have got their own domain names listed on BrandPa/BrandBucket and were successful in selling it?

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I had approx 50 at BB. I've not sold any. And now I have 1. Which will be gone soon. Are you keeping track of these replies?

Yeah I am a learner. I am watching all of this alhumdulillah

There are some skills involved dealing with brandables and a lot of Expert NP Domainers (obv they know who they are) only rarely will share, that is quite normal cause its the only leverage in that niche that really works and cost to them hours and hours of research.

Im my personal view it remains a Number Game, with some code to crack inside, yes, the WordArt Passion, dealing properly with Premium letters, Non-Premium Position, Same-Sounding-Letters (and their long term value) and a lot of other stuff that really makes the difference.

Brandable domains surely work.

namerav said:

Brandable domains surely work.

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Well they definitely sell.

just as a giggle, and I'm sorry to the registrant but, I just went to renew one of my UK domains - and the suggestion tool at my registrar asked if I was interested in "direct sale snow" dot com at UK£1,700. (yep, remove the spaces)

great example of how to get letting so very wrong. of course it was just pluralising my two-word + now.

but I thought it so very funny at first-pass.

Companies that buy 'Brandables' care about word (lettering) appearance and layout as much as they do the text

Nezam Uddin said:

Striking more fuel into the discussion, how many of the domainers have got their own domain names listed on BrandPa/BrandBucket and were successful in selling it?

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In my case, I've sold on brandable sites, selling 7 during the past 3.5 years, out of 70 or so listed almost exclusively on BB. In the past, most of my sales were on Sedo or private sales. I've decided to give BP a try as well. In general, with brandables, one must be patient. Half the time I held names several years (or longer) before the right buyer came along. I know many have 1k or more brandables but until I sell more I only keep 100 or so names at a time. Some names I've let go of or dropped, Huge Domains gobbled up.

gina ferrano said:

In my case, I've sold on brandable sites, selling 7 during the past 3.5 years, out of 70 or so listed almost exclusively on BB. In the past, most of my sales were on Sedo or private sales.

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10% of sales at Brandable marketplaces is impressive.

namerav said:

10% of sales at Brandable marketplaces is impressive.

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I agree if your into x,xxx for each sale.

The difficulty for most domain investors, is they cant use domain tools to interpret 'word art' though they do recognise it when they see it

namerav said:

10% of sales at Brandable marketplaces is impressive.

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I'm a small time player, but optimistic and thankful to have gotten any kind of sales tbh. There are some that do very very well. Patience is key. I dropped out of domaining (not buying anything for 3 years) and my how things have changed! Way more competitive! Where I once found gems with drop lists, Dropcatch corners that market. At auction, there are some folks with deep pockets, hard to compete with that. i've already learned the hard way. Ouch. Hand reg's take time, but I enjoy the 'word art' and the treasure hunt. I'll stick with brandables (made up & keywords), and future markets. + a handful I hope to develop one day.